"Unsurprisingly for a military organization, offensive capability is right at the top of the Air force wish list," writes Geekosystem's Ian Chant. "But being on offense can mean a lot of different things in web-based warfare; it’s handily defined in the call as 'the employment of cyberspace capabilities to destroy, deny, degrade, disrupt, deceive, corrupt, or usurp the adversaries ability to use the cyberspace domain for his advantage.'"

"Its request for concept papers seeks support that includes capabilities for operational commanders to intercept, identify and locate sources of vulnerability for threat recognition, targeting and planning," The Inquirer reports. "This includes providing information needed for immediate decisions as well as gaining intelligence or providing targeting for attacks."

"The Air Force says it will spend $10 million on the effort, mostly for short programs of three to 12 months," writes Wired's Noah Shachtman.

"The solicitation provides a rare glimpse at the kind of information warfare systems that the U.S. military uses and is trying to build in the future," writes Threatpost's Brian Donohue. "The Department of Defense typically does not discuss these kinds of capabilities publicly. In order to be considered, concept papers must be submitted via registered mail (to ensure their protection) before the end of this year."